Nike AirMax Bubble (Read 1224 times)

Midway through a 16 mile run, my new Nike AirMax shoes started to bubble out on the sole. Big bubbles! Like running on giant bubble-wrap but without the fun popping sound. The next day, the bubble had disappeared. Has anyone else had this problem? According to the elevation graph on this site I only went from 1300 feet above sea level to 1600 so I don't think it's an elevation problem! :-)

Midway through a 16 mile run, my new Nike AirMax shoes started to bubble out on the sole. Big bubbles! Like running on giant bubble-wrap but without the fun popping sound. The next day, the bubble had disappeared. Has anyone else had this problem? According to the elevation graph on this site I only went from 1300 feet above sea level to 1600 so I don't think it's an elevation problem! :-)

That is definitely a new one in my experience. Was it extraordinarily hot outside?
Were you running so fast that the friction heated your shoes to the boiling point?
I can't think of any other explanations.
Wait. Yes I can.
1) Did you perhaps by the shoes from a guy on a street corner in Manhattan who opened his trenchcoat when you walked by and said, "Psst. Hey, buddy. Wanna buy some genuine Nike's?"
2) Did you perhaps experiment with hallucinogenic drugs in college and experience a mild endorphin-induced flashback?
Okay, now I'm out of ideas.

I do suddenly have this overwhelming fascination with bubble wrap. Can't get enough of it.
So since the bubble on the shoe went away and the things are so damn comfortable, I took them out this morning and did 20 miles on them. This time, no bubble! Also, no appreciable rise in elevation! Maybe they do expand as one runs higher??!!
Excuse me, I am out of bubble wrap and I have to get to the postal store before it closes.....

I wonder if elevation would have an effect...I know it's always fun to buy a bag of chips at the base of the Rockies, then watch as it puffs-up as one drives further up into the mountains. Stands to reason that those air inserts in the Nikes might have the same issues.
Which makes me wonder what Nike does for shoes destined to stores high in the Rockies...?
k

'16 Goals:

• Do some dus...and some CX...and some tandem gravel...and some podiums...

The mystery thickens.....
"The polyurethane film is somewhat porous to oxygen and nitrogen, while being insufficiently porous to allow the dense gas to escape. Any gas will expand into an area where it is not present, if allowed to. Since the dense gas is neither oxygen or nitrogen, oxygen and nitrogen in the air slowly migrates through the polyurethane film into the Nike AIR chamber. This can result in significant pressure increases over time. as the migration ceases when the gas partial pressures are the same on both sides."
So now we know what caused the bubble...oxygen and nitrogen leaking INTO the shoe! But we don't know how?
I'll have to try the potato chip bag trick next time I drive up to Flagstaff! :-)